RESIDENTS in Malvern District have smashed Government targets for recycling waste.

Figures issued by district recycling officer Debra Parker show that there has been a positive response to the scheme, which was launched last year.

"We launched a pilot programme with 15,000 properties in January 2004, it became districtwide in March and since then has amassed 2,000 tonnes of paper and textiles and 400 tonnes of cans and plastics for recycling," said the delighted officer.

"We have also been able to divert 300 tonnes a month of general waste to landfill."

The new doorstep collections, using colour-coded sacks and covering 33,000 households, has proved a huge success, eventually busting the government target of 18% by almost a third.

Keen to press for more public awareness, council leaders are now appealing to residents to keep recycling as much as possible, citing the festive season as good reason to discard unwanted wrapping paper, cards, envelopes, information manuals and leaflets.

"This scheme has shown that Malvern Hills residents are responding positively to recycling and we are testing whether giving out rolls of sacks, rather than replacing them one at a time, is a better way of encouraging collections," said Miss Parker.

"We also want to encourage people to use the 'bring sites' - the bottle, paper, clothes and book banks to help us achieve our own target of 24% plus by the end of March."

Tenbury's district councillor, George Price added: "We set ourselves very high targets and it's thanks to communities, including Tenbury Wells, that we have achieved this success."